Method of feeding fish



United States Patent Earl E. Evans Pine Bluff, Ark. 1511 Chester St.,Little Rock, Arkansas [72] Inventor 72202 211 AppLNo. 686,497 22 FiledNov.29,1967

[45] Patented Aug.ll,l970

[54] METHOD OF FEEDING FISH 4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 119/51, 119/3; 222/178/193 [51] Int. Cl A0lk 5/00 [50] Fieldol'Search 222/1, 178, 193; 119/3, 56A, 51; 222/193 up, 178 up; 119/56Aup, 51 up, 3 up, 56A up; 222/193,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,282,697 10/1918 Johnson222/193X 1,444,648 2/1923 Willis et a1 222/193 1,482,495 2/1924Westhaver 222/193 2,764,321 9/1956 Gerdes et al.... 222/242 2,975,5433/1961 Funk 222/193X Primary Examiner- Robert B. Reeves AssistantExaminer Hadd S. Lane Attorneys-Clarence A. OBrien and Harvey B.Jacobson ABSTRACT: A method for feeding fish, especially channelcatfish, employing a hopper mounted upon a farm tractor and containing amechanism powered by the power take-off of the tractor for effectuatingthe transfer of pelletized fish feed from the hopper to the dischargepipe of a centrifugal blower so that the air will entrain the feedwithout causing breakage of the pellets and discharge the feed in apreselected direction over a relatively large surface area of a pond inspaced relation to its banks.

Patented Aug. 11, 1970 o E ar/ E Evans I'NVENTOR.

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Patented Aug. 11, 1970 3,523,520

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Patented Aug. 11, 1970 7 Sheet Earl E. Evans INVENTOR.

METHOD or FEEDING FISH The field of the present invention relates to amethod and associated apparatus for feeding fish. More specifically, theinvention is directed to a feeding device which may be used in blowing astream of fish feed into man made fish ponds.

With the fish farming industry on the increase, new methods are beingtried by those involved in order to raise production of fish in aminimum period of time and at least cost. A fish farm is characterizedby man made fish ponds which are dug in long rows and in side-by-siderelation with adjacent pond rows. Roadways are constructed betweenadjacent rows thereby enabling individuals to walk along the roads withbuckets filled with fish feed during which time the feed is manuallydispensed into the ponds at periodic feeding intervals. This manualdispensation involves serious problems for the fish farmer in the way ofreduced production and high waste. These problems are encountered due tothe fact that one dispensing feed manually is limited in his capacity toproject feed into the interior area of the pond well away from thebanks. An actual result of manual dispensation results in a great amountof feed being deposited upon or close to the banks whereupon it iseither unavailable to the fish or accessi' ble only to the larger fishwho by virtue of their natural superiority prevent their smaller sizedbrothers from sharing the feed. The prior art includes mechanicalattempts to increase the speed at which the feeding process may becompleted. A typical mechanization includes a hopper stationarilymounted adjacent a pond and including an auger which conveys the feedfrom the hopper to a fixed predetermined point in the pond. Thedisadvantage experienced by utilization of this prior constructionresides in the fact that the outward projection of feed depends upon thelength of auger, pipe and the inclination of same with respect to a pondsurface. It will be appreciated that a large length of pipe becomesdifficult to handle and store and the feed will merely drop straightdown into the pond in the immediate vicinity of the pipe end.

In summary, the present invention includes a hopper and associatedmechanism mounted upon a tractor which utilizes the power take-off ofthe tractor to dispense feed contained in the hopper to a centrifugalblower outlet pipe section. As a portion of the feed moves into the pipesection, it becomes subjected to acceleration due to entrainment in theair and upon exit from the pipe, the feed is directed outwardly. Inoperation, the tractor is driven along a roadway adjoining adjacent rowsof fish ponds. The pipe is directed outwardly toward the center of eachpond and as the tractor passes the pond, the feed is blown a distancefar removed from the banks of the pond. As a result, the feed isdistributed evenly within the pond thus affording all fish in the pondan opportunity to share the feed. Accordingly, among the salient objectsof the present invention are to provide a method and apparatus:

To mechanically dispense fish feed to ponds;

To decrease the period of time necessary to dispense fish feed into therows of ponds on a fish farm;

To substantially eliminate waste of fish feed by depositing same awayfrom the banks ofa pond;

To provide a uniform dispensation of feed within a fish To provide amechanical fish feed distributor which may be used in conjunction withconventional tractors.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view in perspective illustrating the present inventionmounted upon a tractor proceeding with a fish feeding operation.

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the present invention as mounted upon therear end housing of a farm tractor.

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view illustrating the utilization of atractor power take-off.

FIGURE 4 is a rear elevational view illustrating a portion of the powertransmission train of the instant invention.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary sectional view upon a plane passing alongsection line 5--5 in FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view upon a plane passingalong section line 6--6 of FIGURE 5.

FIGURE 7 is a top plan view of the instant apparatus after removal ofthe hopper.

Referring specifically to the drawings, a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention is illustrated in use in FIGURE 1 of the drawingswherein reference numeral 10 generally refers to the fish feeding devicemounted upon a farm tractor of conventional design and including ahopper 11 mounted to the rear of the tractor by support frame 12. Asshown in FIGURE 1, the tractor is driven along a roadway 13 or topsurface of the bank which separates adjacent rows of fish ponds 14. Thefish feed is projected outwardly over the bank of the pond 14 into acentral area of the pond, as denoted by reference numeral 16, where thefeed is made available to all fish contained therein thus avoiding feedbeing wasted by landing on the bank or in shallow water adjacentthereto.

The present invention employs the power take-off shaft 20 of aconventional tractor generally referred to by reference numeral 18. Adouble groove V-belt pulley 22 is concentrically mounted upon the powertake-off shaft 20 and V-belts 24 are entrained about the pulley 22 in aparallel manner. The belts 24 are likewise entrained about a verticallydisposed and coplanar pulley 26. The pulley 26 is concentrically mountedon a shaft 28 which is oriented in a horizontal manner and disposed toproject rearwardly from the rear of the tractor 18. The rearward end ofshaft 28 is fixedly attached to a coupling 29, the latter beingassociated with the drive of a centrifugal blower as explainedhereinafter.

The power take-off shaft 20 is extended to a shaft portion 30 disposedon the rearward side of the pulley 22. The free end of this shaftportion 30 is concentrically affixed to apulley 32 which drives a secondpulley 36 disposed vertically above pulley 32 and aligned therewith by aV-belt 34 entrained about both pulleys 32 and 36. The pulley 36 iscoaxially mounted on a horizontal shaft 38 which extends directlyrearwardly therefrom. The rearward end portion of this shaft is keyedthrough a coupling 39 to the input shaft 50 of a conventional worm geartype speed reducer 52 shown diagrammatically in FIGURE 6, the reducerbeing capable of speed reduction from 450 r.p.m. to a range between 50and 75 r.p.m. The reducer casing is fastened by suitable fasteners to abottom wall 60 of a lower cylindrical hopper portion 62, the latterappending from a conical hopper portion 64. A vertically extendingreducer output shaft 58 passes through a circular aperture 59 formedwithin the bottom wall 60 of the lower cylindrical hopper portion 62. Anintermediate length of the output shaft 58 is supported by a cylindricalbearing 66 which prevents lateral play of the shaft in its upper portionand rotates within the lower portion 62 of the hopper. The lower surfaceof the bearing 66 is affixed to the interior surface of the bottomhopper wall 60. The top portion of shaft 66 is characterized by a squarecross-sectional profile. This squared end portion is constructed to matewith a frusto-conical socket which is positioned over and lowered ontothe shaft 66' so that the socket becomes keyed to the shaft. From aninspection of FIGURE 6, it may be seen that the socket generallyreferred to by reference numeral 67 is characterized by a hollow squarecap 68 which is keyed to the top square portion of shaft 66. The cap isintegrally connected with a hollow conical portion 70 divergingdownwardly toward and integrally connected with a disk-like washer 72with a central aperture formed therein. It is noted that the centralportion of socket 67 is hollow thus permitting shaft 56 and cylindricalbearing 66 to reside therein. The socket is further characterized bytriangular vanes 74 affixed to the conical portion 70 whereby thehypotenuse of each triangular vane is suitably affixed to the outerconical surface.

Referring to FIGURE 5 of the drawings, a pipe section or conduit 76contains an inlet 78 of concave dimension which communicates with thelower cylindrical hopper portion 62 at a discharge port formed therein,the hopper portion 62 is integrally formed with hollow conical hopperbase 64. In operation. the vanes 74 rotate in a manner pushing feed intothe vicinity of the pipe inlet 78. A contour butterfly valve 80conforming to the aperture 78 is positioned within said aperture for theexpress purpose of controlling the amount of feed which enters theaperture 78. The butteifly valve 80 is pivotally hinged by a suitablepin 82 for allowing the valve to swing horizontally. The valve may bespring loaded to retain the valve in a normally closed position. Inaddition a suitable stop may be provided to limit the outward opening ofvalve 80. One end of a lanyard. cable. or other suitable device 83 isattached to the valve for controlling the displacement of the valve fromthe aperture 78. The opposite end of the lanyard 83 terminates on thetractor in a vicinity convenient to the driver of the tractor so that hemay control the effective aperture opening of pipe section 76.

FIGURES 5 and 6 of the drawings illustrate a rotating agitating rod 84one end of which conforms to the interior conical inclination of thehopper wall 64. The intermediate length of the rod is orientedhorizontally and the interior end of the rod is wrapped around thesquare top cap 68 of the socket 67 thereby keying the rod to the socketand providing positive rotation thereto in accordance with the rotationof the socket. The purpose of this rod is to agitate the feed in theadjoining area thereby preventing the feed from packing which wouldresult in a loss offlow through the hopper.

Referring to FIGURES 3 and 7, pipe section 76 is inclined downwardly andconnected to a second pipe section or blower tube 88 of larger diameter.This second larger pipe section 88 is connected to the outlet pipe ofacentrifugal fan 86. Thus, as a velocity of blown air passing through thelarger pipe 88 is established. air in the smaller pipe section 76 willbe frictionally engaged by the air moving through the larger pipe section 88 and a static pressure is developed within the smaller pipesection 76 which is less than atmospheric pressure in accordance withthe energy flow equation. As a result, the feed located within thebottom ofthe hopper is drawn by a suction effect through the smallerpipe section 76 into the larger pipe section 88 whereupon it is blownoutwardly from the larger pipe section in a direction dictated by thepipe orientation. ln actual operation, the larger pipe section isdisposed perpendicularly to the side of a tractor and inclined upwardlytherefrom so that the direction of feed flow is outwardly andupwardly'from the tractor side into a central area or at least asubstantial distance from the edge ofa fish pond as the tractorprogresses forwardly along a roadway, as clearly shown in FIGURE l ofthedrawings.

It is appreciated that the speed of the power take-off from the tractoris adjustable thereby enabling the pulley system discussed hereinbeforeto rotate at a preselected speed. Accordingly. speed governing of thevaned socket is possible which results in an adjustable density of feedavailable at the blower pipe outlet. Further, the variable powertake-off rotation allows an adjustment to be made in the speed of thecentrifugal blower thus permitting an adjustably variable distance offeed projection over a pond.

It is further appreciated that the instant invention is by no meanslimited to distribution of fish feed. in view of the foregoing, itshould be obvious that distribution of substantially all coarse granularmaterials is amenable to the present method and apparatus.

Further. if a large capacity hopper is required. the present inventioncan be supported on a conventional wheeled frame and drawn by a tractor.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to. falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

lclaim:

l. A method of feeding fish from a pellet distributor. said distributorincluding a hopper for said pellets, a blower, and a distributing chute,said method comprising steps of positioning the distributor adjacent abody of water containing said fish. passing a stream of pellets fromsaid hopper to said chute, directing the chute toward said body ofwater. blowing said pellets from said chute and onto the surface of saidbody of water whereby said pellets are available to said fish.

2. The method set forth in Claim 1 together with the steps of mountingthe distributor to a vehicle and driving the vehicle to the edge ofthewater body.

3. The method of Claim 1 further including the step of passing thepellets from said hopper to a metering device to assure delivery ofauniform stream of pellets to said chute.

4. The method set forth in Claim 1 together with the step of directingthe chute upwardly to project the pellets a substantial distance fromthe edge ofthe water body.

